Sheikh Without a Heart

“Do you really think I’d take your money?” She gave a sad, disbelieving laugh. “I don’t want money. I want—”

“You want what you almost had,” he said coldly. “My fortune. My title. A child who is not yours.”

Each accusation was like a blow.

“That isn’t true!”

“You are not a woman to speak of what is and is not true.”

“You never loved me at all,” Rachel whispered. “If you had, you’d know I don’t want money. You’d know Suki made up that entire story. She gave birth to Ethan, yes, but she didn’t leave him with me so she could find a job. She left him because she didn’t want him. She took off without a word, and I never heard from her again.”

“You’re fast on your feet,” Karim said tonelessly. “As I said, you give an excellent performance.”

“Dammit, will you listen? Suki made it all up! I never tried to seduce Rami. I barely spoke to him. Yes. I lied about Ethan. But if I hadn’t you’d have taken him from me. Don’t you see that?”

“What I see is that you’re incapable of speaking the truth.”

Rachel stared at Karim. Before her eyes he’d become all the things she’d called him when they’d met: an egotistical, arrogant despot.

How could she have thought she loved him?

Losing Ethan would hurt forever.

Losing Karim was the best thing that could have happened to her.

“And you,” she said, “are incapable of being a man. The only thing you’re suited for is being what you are. A cold, heartless sheikh!”

She took a deep breath. Then, head high, she brushed past him.

“Rachel!” She didn’t answer. He cursed and went after her, dropped a heavy hand on her shoulder and swung her toward him. “No one walks away from me until I dismiss them.”

“No,” she said quietly, “I’m sure they don’t, Your Highness.” Her chin lifted. “How would they dare?”

“Watch what you say to me, woman.”

“Why? What more could you do to me than you’ve already done?”

“You are in my country now. My word is—”

Karim fell silent.

Sweet heaven, what was he doing? Yes, she had lied to him. Made a fool of him. Now she was turning him into the very kind of man she’d accused him of being.

What kind of power did she have that she could reduce him to this? That she could make him lose his self-control not only in bed but out of it?

No.

He wasn’t going to think about her in bed. Her seeming innocence at the start, her incredible abandon once she was in his arms.